2018 Lawn thread

[numtumfutunch]

ThatGuyWhoDoesStuff said:

I'm afraid I'm going to be 'that guy' for a minute.

Whilst I'm not averse to gardening and managing my lawn, I just don't have the time at the moment. Does anyone have experience with the more 'national' lawn care companies (Greenthumb etc) or would I be better going local.

Many thanks.

Poor experience of Greenthumb here

I signed up after they promised they would sort out aeration and scarifying for me at quite reasonable prices in addition to the treatment program

The reality was they turned up with their potions a couple of times but absolutely failed to do the other things they had promised as they were "too busy"

So I sacked them

Lawnsmith is a great resource and often quoted on these threads
I bought their spreader and treat the lawn 4 times a year with their products
With my first order I also bought a pair of clip on shoe spikey aerator things - not sure if they actually work but they are useful for collecting the last of the previous seasons leaves and the neighbours think Im crackers
And finally I took a long term view of the cost of a scarifier over daily hire charges

The treatments take minutes at most, aeration with the clip on spikes as long as you like but on a nice evening Im happy plodding around the garden for half an hour and scarifying a couple of hours work twice a year when the suns out - thats 15 mins to scarify and the rest getting rid of the clag it produces

Do you have time for that??

Cheers

[Commander2874]

Had a new lawn layed and been about 3 months now. Have mowed it about 3 times now and noticed slight patches here and there. Any tips on getting it looking fuller?

[olimain]

Currently in the midst of re-doing the garden and a new patio and will be raising the level of the lawn and will be adding topsoil and turfing.

I'd love it to be as close to flush with the new patio as possible, has anyone here done this successfully and if so what level should I bring the topsoil to before turfing? I've read some conflicting advice, some saying get the topsoil level with the patio then turf as it will sink a bit ending up level and other saying bring the topsoil an inch below patio level before turfing.

[MrChips]

olimain said:

Currently in the midst of re-doing the garden and a new patio and will be raising the level of the lawn and will be adding topsoil and turfing.

I'd love it to be as close to flush with the new patio as possible, has anyone here done this successfully and if so what level should I bring the topsoil to before turfing? I've read some conflicting advice, some saying get the topsoil level with the patio then turf as it will sink a bit ending up level and other saying bring the topsoil an inch below patio level before turfing.

I had mine laid last year and they didn’t do it low enough, especially as now I need to topdress and overseed is the level is going to rise a bit. I’d be leaving 2” from the patio as you can always build it up over a couple of years but you can’t lower it!

[BRISTOL86]

Hey folks

Front lawn looking distinctly poor, time to get on and sort it!

Theee main issues

- Very mossy in places



- Resembling a meadow. Full of weeds (mainly dandelions I think) and these little purple flowers whatever they are!



- Generally just looking a bit unloved, very patchy in colour and more yellow than green



I’d appreciate any idiots guide advice on getting this looking semi reasonable again!

Thank s

[Beanbagzilla]

BRISTOL86 said:

Hey folks

Front lawn looking distinctly poor, time to get on and sort it!

Theee main issues

- Very mossy in places

- Resembling a meadow. Full of weeds (mainly dandelions I think) and these little purple flowers whatever they are!

- Generally just looking a bit unloved, very patchy in colour and more yellow than green

I’d appreciate any idiots guide advice on getting this looking semi reasonable again!

Thank s

The moss in your first photo looks exactly like my front lawn last year. I had good success with Evergreen 4 in 1, I used slightly more than the bag recommended but it killed the moss very quickly and I raked it all out when it all turned black. The grass grew very quickly and plugged the gaps.

ASDA often have the bags on special offer which is a great time to get a couple, I'm no gardening expert (I'm trying to learn!) but I've been recommended to put it on the lawn in spring then again at the end of summer.

[BRISTOL86]

Beanbagzilla said:

The moss in your first photo looks exactly like my front lawn last year. I had good success with Evergreen 4 in 1, I used slightly more than the bag recommended but it killed the moss very quickly and I raked it all out when it all turned black. The grass grew very quickly and plugged the gaps.

ASDA often have the bags on special offer which is a great time to get a couple, I'm no gardening expert (I'm trying to learn!) but I've been recommended to put it on the lawn in spring then again at the end of summer.

Thanks

[scott2c]

BRISTOL86 said:

Hey folks

Front lawn looking distinctly poor, time to get on and sort it!

Theee main issues

- Very mossy in places



- Resembling a meadow. Full of weeds (mainly dandelions I think) and these little purple flowers whatever they are!



- Generally just looking a bit unloved, very patchy in colour and more yellow than green



I’d appreciate any idiots guide advice on getting this looking semi reasonable again!

Thank s

Get some iron sulphate from Wilko, dissolve into warm water and apply at 5g per sqm. This will sort the moss.

Get some Scotts Lawn Builder and apply at their recommended rate which is 20g per sqm.

2 weeks later or so, apply a spot lawn weed treatment. Wilko do an own brand, but Resolva and Weedol are the main ones to buy also from Wilko.

Do this 3x per year at 8 week intervals (only do the weed twice), then come September look to scarify and possibly aerate the lawn and overseed.

Edited by scott2c on Wednesday 25th April 22:43

[BRISTOL86]

scott2c said:

Get some iron sulphate from Wilko, dissolve into warm water and apply at 5g per sqm. This will sort the moss.

Get some Scotts Lawn Builder and apply at their recommended rate which is 20g per sqm.

2 weeks later or so, apply a spot lawn weed treatment. Wilko do an own brand, but Resolva and Weedol are the main ones to buy also from Wilko.

Do this 3x per year at 8 week intervals (only do the weed twice), then come September look to scarify and possibly aerate the lawn and overseed.

Edited by scott2c on Wednesday 25th April 22:43

Thank you kind sir!

[BRISTOL86]

Can I just check that’s definitely 5g not 50g for the iron sulphate? 1.5 kilos of it seems to be the smallest they sell!

[Johnnytheboy]

I have a lawn on heavy, alkaline clay, wet in the winter, shaded by half a dozen large trees in the summer.



Is a 'shady green' type seed best for overseeding? I've used it before and the grass is very fine and easily damaged by walking in the winter - would something a bit tougher be better?

[paulrockliffe]

Johnnytheboy said:

I have a lawn on heavy, alkaline clay, wet in the winter, shaded by half a dozen large trees in the summer.



Is a 'shady green' type seed best for overseeding? I've used it before and the grass is very fine and easily damaged by walking in the winter - would something a bit tougher be better?

Do you know what would work well in shady areas? A fake grass matting that's quite sparse and designed to be grown through with real grass. It probably doesn't exist, but it would be perfect for this, it would still look real, the fake bits would help protect the grass from wear and if it doesn't grow too well the bald bits would be less evident.

Someone should invent that.

[Pintofbest]

paulrockliffe said:

Do you know what would work well in shady areas? A fake grass matting that's quite sparse and designed to be grown through with real grass. It probably doesn't exist, but it would be perfect for this, it would still look real, the fake bits would help protect the grass from wear and if it doesn't grow too well the bald bits would be less evident.

Someone should invent that.

A bit like this?

http://www.dessosports.com/sports/football/footbal...

Liverpool FC pitch is partly artificial, only a small amount but it does look very good after a seasons use.

[paulrockliffe]

Pintofbest said:

paulrockliffe said:

Do you know what would work well in shady areas? A fake grass matting that's quite sparse and designed to be grown through with real grass. It probably doesn't exist, but it would be perfect for this, it would still look real, the fake bits would help protect the grass from wear and if it doesn't grow too well the bald bits would be less evident.

Someone should invent that.

A bit like this?

http://www.dessosports.com/sports/football/footbal...

Liverpool FC pitch is partly artificial, only a small amount but it does look very good after a seasons use.

Didn't know that. Sort of like that, if you can get a machine to inject the fibres at a reasonable cost then it could be a good option. I'd think for a home garden some sort of matting that contains the fibres would be more cost effective, which was why I suggested that.

The article does say that the injected fibres go deeper than a matt would and encourage the roots to grow deeper, so might be technically better as well.

[jagnet]

Johnnytheboy said:

Is a 'shady green' type seed best for overseeding? I've used it before and the grass is very fine and easily damaged by walking in the winter - would something a bit tougher be better?

For wear tolerant grass in the shade, look to Poa supina. This is a grass that can be found naturally in high-traffic areas (particularly cattle paths) in moist, shaded woodland areas in the Alps. Very wear tolerant and exceptionally shade tolerant, with its strong stoloniferous growth it recovers quickly from damage. At 5-10% of a seed mix, in high traffic areas in the shade it'll become the dominant species within a year or two.

Germinal do a shady seed mix with Poa supina: A6 Supreme Shade, or if just overseeding a large area then their 85% SS Meadow Grass / 15% Poa supina A31 Supreme Tees can work out quite economically.

[olimain]

MrChips said:

olimain said:

Currently in the midst of re-doing the garden and a new patio and will be raising the level of the lawn and will be adding topsoil and turfing.

I'd love it to be as close to flush with the new patio as possible, has anyone here done this successfully and if so what level should I bring the topsoil to before turfing? I've read some conflicting advice, some saying get the topsoil level with the patio then turf as it will sink a bit ending up level and other saying bring the topsoil an inch below patio level before turfing.

I had mine laid last year and they didn’t do it low enough, especially as now I need to topdress and overseed is the level is going to rise a bit. I’d be leaving 2” from the patio as you can always build it up over a couple of years but you can’t lower it!

Thank you. Do you know what level they put your soil at in relation to the patio before turfing?

[thebraketester]

whats the best stuff to use for top dressing?

[scott2c]

BRISTOL86 said:

Can I just check that’s definitely 5g not 50g for the iron sulphate? 1.5 kilos of it seems to be the smallest they sell!

Yep. That does 300sqm for only £4.

http://www.tradefarmni.co.uk/iron/iron.pdf for some application rates and more guidance.

[BRISTOL86]

Cheers pal

[wjwren]

Recommend me some green up lawn liquid please. I used some stuff off QVC last year - Richard Jackson I think it was called. It was great stuff, got the lawn looking like carpet. They are out of stock indefinitely on it now.

I filled a wheelie bin up, put a tap on the bottom and used the jetwash to spray the lawn. Worked a treat.